Method of making artificial hair pieces

ABSTRACT

A method of making an artificial hairpiece including a layer of artificial skin with implanted hair, comprising steps of tying strands of hair to a net which is initially tensioned so as to fully open its meshes, then subsequently stretching said net in one direction whereby said net is contracted in the direction perpendicular to that of the stretching to reduce its area and thereby effect a much closer or more dense grouping of the hair strands, and applying a layer of fluid raw material to said net in its reduced area condition whereby said raw material becomes solidified forming the artificial skin with said net and hairstrands embedded therein.

United States Patent Utsunomiya [4 1 June 20, 1972 54] METHOD OF MAKING ARTIFICIAL 2,233,100 2/1941 .levnikar ..132/53 HAIR PIECES 1,490,466 4/1924 Hupka ..132/53 [72] Inventor: Jitsuo Utsunomiya, 1416, Yanocho, Akiprimary Examine,- Am0nio q g S Hiroshima, Japan Assistant Examiner-Gregory E. McNeill [22] Filed: Aug. 4, 1970 Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack [21] Appl. No.: 60,906 [57] ABSTRACT A method of making an artificial hairpiece including a layer of [52] U.S.Cl ..132/5 artificial kin ith implanted hair. comprising steps of tying [5 1 Int. Cl ..A4lg 3/00 Strands of hair to a net which is initially lensioned so as to fully 58 Field of Search ..132/5, 53, 54, 9, 49; 23/74; p its meshes, then Subsequently stretching Said net in one 46/151 direction whereby said net is contracted in the direction perpendicular to that of the stretching to reduce its area and [56] References Cited thereby effect a much closer or more dense grouping of the hair strands, and applying a layer of fluid raw material to said UNITED STATES PATENTS net in its reduced area condition whereby said raw material becomes solidified forming the artificial skin with said net and 3,037,261 6/1962 Hess ..28/74 hairstrands embedded therein 2,907,334 10/1959 Le Mole ...l32/5 1,740,764 12/1929 Bong; 132/5 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJuxzo 1972 JA/VENTOR Jrrsuo UTSUNOMIYA 15y fi/mdmaifi zj/ha 9 ATTORNEY? METHOD OF MAKING ARTIFICIAL HAIR PIECES This invention relates to a method of making hairpieces with an artificial skin with implanted hair, and more particularly to a method of making an artificial skin with implanted hair suitable to use as a toupee or a part of wig.

In the prior related art, usually an artificial skin is first pasted onto the surface of a net, then after individual hair strands are tied to the net and drawn out onto the surface of the artificial skin by the use of a hook or the like so as to orient them upright, subsequently the knots formed by the tied together net and hair strands are firmly fixed by a pasting agent. In the case employing this known method, in order to increase the density of the implanted hair, it is necessary to use a net having quite fine meshes, therefore necessitating a great deal of time and labor in tying the hair to the fine mesh net. Because of the fact that a very delicate and skilled technique has been required in drawing the hair onto the surface of the artificial skin, it not only excessively fatiques a worker but, precludes an efficient manual working. Furthermore, the finished product has an undesirable characteristic due to its inevitable dual-layer structure made up of the net and the artificial skin, resulting in an enlarged thickness making it more difficult to conform to a head.

The principal object of this present invention essentially is to provide an improved method of making an artificial skin with implanted hair, wherein above mentioned defects of the prior art are overcome, rendering the planting of hair an easy and simple matter, making any desired hair-planting density readily obtainable in an efficient manner without necessitating any skilled technique and with less labor, thus making the further reduction of cost possible. The artificial skin with implanted hair is of simplified structure and readily conforms to a head.

According to this invention a preferred method of making the article comprises the steps of tying strands of hair to preferably medial areas of at least one pair the opposed threads defining opposed sides of multiple, polygonal shaped intersticies of a flexible mesh or net material which net is prestretched or tensioned in both directions so as to fully open its meshes (as per FIG. 1), then stretching said net in one direction whereby said net is contracted in a direction perpendicular to that of the stretching thereby reducing its area, and applying a fluid raw material to said net in its reduced area whereby said raw materialsolidifies to form said artificial skin embodying said net.

The object and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description in which the preferred embodiment has been disclosed in detail in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view showing a portion of the opened net or mesh material with strands of hair attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing a condition wherein the net is stretched in one direction, to contract it in another direction;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing a fragmentary part of an artificial skin with implanted hair; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 3.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a net made of such material as tulle lace, etc. having a form of honeycomb is first stretched lengthwise and crosswise so as to open and enlarge its meshes, and a natural or artificial hair 11 is suitably attached or planted thereon. As for the form of the afore-mentioned net, a net having meshes of other forms, for instance, meshes of continuous quadrilaterals form may be used; and as to the hair 11 being attached or tied to one and the same point on the net 10, the strands may be of any reasonable number. The net is then stretched by pulling it in one direction as shown by the arrows in FIG. 2. By this action, the net undergoes a contraction in a direction perpendicular to that of stretching, consequently considerably reducing its area. At this time it is apparent that the meshes or openings of the net are changed into continuous narrow and fine holes, thereby bringing the tied-on hairs into much closer proximity, as shown from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2. Then, in this condition and with the reverse side of the net upward, a raw fluid material made up preferably of a synthetic resin, a synthetic rubber or the like is applied to this reverse side of the net, subsequently letting it become solidified. This is preferably repeated several times. Since the stretching of the net 10 in one direction, as has been described above, not only increases the hair-planting density but also changes the characteristic of the net to such an extent that it essentially transforms into a cloth of coarse texture, and even if the raw material infiltrates to the surface of the net 10, due to the surface tension, it will not flow out unnecessarily, whereby a thin film is formed eventually. In the manner given above, as shown in the FIG. 4, an artificial skin 12 including the net 10 embodied therein is evolved.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description of a preferredembodiment that this invention provides a method of making an artificial skin with implanted hair, in which the hair-planting is easier and more simplified by doing away with the necessity of using a net having fine meshes. This method also facilitates making of such articles with any desirable hair density. An efficient production can be achieved by eliminating skilled technique and much of the labor, thereby reducing costs. The artificial skin of the finished article is not only strengthened, but made with reduced thickness and increased flexibility to conform more readily to the users head.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that this description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A method of making artificial hair pieces to include an artificial skin with implanted hair, comprising the steps of a. prestretching a layer of flexible mesh or net material having threadlike elements forming multiple polygonal shaped intersticies, in both its lengthwise and lateral dimensions to fully open and expand the mesh material;

b. attaching strands of hair to a plurality of the threadlike elements forming said polygon shapes of said mesh material, while in its prestretched condition and extending the hairs in a generally common direction relative to one side of the material which side constitutes the upper side;

c. stretching the mesh material, with hair attached, in one given direction to effect closer grouping of said strands by a contracting of the material in the direction generally perpendicular to that of the stretching in said given direction to thereby reduce the area of the mesh material; applying at least one layer of a fluid raw material to said mesh material in its stretched condition; and

e. letting said fluid raw material dry into solidified but relatively pliable membrane embracing the mesh material with flexibly attached hair strands.

2. The method as defined in claim I wherein said fluid raw material is applied to the under side of the mesh material, which under side is opposite the upper side from which said hair strands commonly extend.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein said fluid raw material is selected from a group including synthetic resin compositions and synthetic rubber and rubber-like compositions.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the thread-like elements form polygonal shaped intersticies having generally six equal sides, generally like a honeycomb, and at least one strand of hair is attached to at least one side of each series of thread-like elements forming the polygonal shape.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of paragraph (d) further includes applying a plurality of thin layers of said fluid raw material and letting said layers dry to form a stronger, pliable artificial skin with implanted hair. 7

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein said mesh material has a general form of honeycomb shaped intersticies, and the strands are attached to oppositely disposed thread-like elements forming the opposite sides of the honeycomb shaped intersticies.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 including utilizing a tulle lace material as the mesh or net material, and wherein the strands of hair are attached by typing same to the threadlike elements forming the mesh material.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of paragraph includes said stretching in one direction and thereby contracting in the other direction to variable degrees to thereby vary the hair density of the finished article.

9. A method of making artificial hairpieces with an artificial skin with implanted hair, comprising steps of attaching strands of hair-like material to a mesh material which is initially tensioned in two diversed directions so as to substantially fully open and expand its meshes; then stretching the mesh material with said strands attached in one given direction and contracting it in an opposite direction generally perpendicular to said given direction to reduce its area, and to'more closely group the attached hair-like strands; and applying at least one layer of a settable fluid raw material to the mesh while in its reduced area condition for making the artificial skin of said hairpiece.

i i I i l 

1. A method of making artificial hair pieces to include an artificial skin with implanted hair, comprising the steps of a. prestretching a layer of flexible mesh or net material having threadlike elements forming multiple polygonal shaped intersticies, in both its lengthwise and lateral dimensions to fully open and expand the mesh material; b. attaching strands of hair to a plurality of the threadlike elements forming said polygon shapes of said mesh material, while in its prestretched condition and extending the hairs in a generally common direction relative to one side of the material which side constitutes the upper side; c. stretching the mesh material, with hair attached, in one given dirEction to effect closer grouping of said strands by a contracting of the material in the direction generally perpendicular to that of the stretching in said given direction to thereby reduce the area of the mesh material; d. applying at least one layer of a fluid raw material to said mesh material in its stretched condition; and e. letting said fluid raw material dry into solidified but relatively pliable membrane embracing the mesh material with flexibly attached hair strands.
 2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein said fluid raw material is applied to the under side of the mesh material, which under side is opposite the upper side from which said hair strands commonly extend.
 3. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein said fluid raw material is selected from a group including synthetic resin compositions and synthetic rubber and rubber-like compositions.
 4. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the thread-like elements form polygonal shaped intersticies having generally six equal sides, generally like a honeycomb, and at least one strand of hair is attached to at least one side of each series of thread-like elements forming the polygonal shape.
 5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of paragraph (d) further includes applying a plurality of thin layers of said fluid raw material and letting said layers dry to form a stronger, pliable artificial skin with implanted hair.
 6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein said mesh material has a general form of honeycomb shaped intersticies, and the strands are attached to oppositely disposed thread-like elements forming the opposite sides of the honeycomb shaped intersticies.
 7. The method as defined in claim 1 including utilizing a tulle lace material as the mesh or net material, and wherein the strands of hair are attached by typing same to the thread-like elements forming the mesh material.
 8. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of paragraph (c) includes said stretching in one direction and thereby contracting in the other direction to variable degrees to thereby vary the hair density of the finished article.
 9. A method of making artificial hairpieces with an artificial skin with implanted hair, comprising steps of attaching strands of hair-like material to a mesh material which is initially tensioned in two diversed directions so as to substantially fully open and expand its meshes; then stretching the mesh material with said strands attached in one given direction and contracting it in an opposite direction generally perpendicular to said given direction to reduce its area, and to more closely group the attached hair-like strands; and applying at least one layer of a settable fluid raw material to the mesh while in its reduced area condition for making the artificial skin of said hairpiece. 